Beginner Questions

Hi, I’m brand new here!
I have had many, many dreams for my life. One, being a pilot. I am now researching it and it seems like something I might absolutely love.
I have a few minor questions, though. Is it very tedious? I am someone who loves adventure and not being bored, meeting new people, traveling to new places; but I’ve heard the life of a pilot can be really mundane and often strenuous. Is this true? I like being busy and keeping my mind active, and I (perhaps selfishly) also like being in charge and receiving credit/being recognized for my work/promotions/etc. I love working with people and being of service. Is this a field in which I can move up relatively fast? Are there opportunities for teaching? Is this something that people who do this for a living would recommend to someone like me? Thank you!!!

Amanda,

Any job (I’ve had a few) can become tedious. Now you say you want to be a pilot. That can mean anything from the airlines to bush planes in Africa.

Based on your criterion for happiness I don’t know if the airlines are for you. Sitting in the cockpit for hours can definitely get tedious and neither you nor your passengers really ever want those flights to get too exciting. While I’d never call my job boring, it’s not particularly exciting. Further all the airlines operate on a seniority system. While this assures everything is fair, it doesn’t allow for rapid advancement or recognition. You’ll upgrade (advance) based on your length of service and nothing else. There’s also no requirement to be a people person as we only fly with one or 2 at a time.

Again being a pilot can mean many different things and you might want to explore other options like flying tours if you’re looking for excitement and interaction.

Adam

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Amanda,

Before you try to figure out which profession best matches your personality, have you taken an intro flight yet? If you haven’t, I strongly suggest doing one soon. Nothing comes close to actually getting in a real airplane and manipulating the controls with an instructor guiding you through the process.

After you’ve taken your intro flight I will be interested in hearing about how it influences your thoughts about becoming a professional pilot apart from what you think you already know.

Flying has challenged me more than anything else, especially in the beginning. That’s one of the things I like about this career. Pilots are always learning. At least they should be.

I’m sure you’re not, but this sounds like you’re hard to please. I know how cliche this sounds, and it also makes me sound like a parent, but it’s true. So, hear me out. Life is an adventure and boredom is a mindset not a symptom. The cure for boredom is a positive attitude, not a “cool job.” I’m saying all of this, coming from a good place. I was once in your shoes too. If you get bored easily then that’s something you need to work on. Aviation can’t fix that for you. Again, this is why I started my response encouraging you to take an intro flight. If flying and you are a good match, boredom will be the least of your worries.

This has some truth to it. I’ll touch on this in a bit, but it’s also sad if this is how professional pilots view their job. I certainly don’t. I’ve been flying for 5 years. That’s not long compared to someone with 30-40+ years of experience because they started when they were 16, but I’ve also been doing it long enough to provide some insight into why these words are sometimes used to describe the airline pilot life (no pun intended).

If you’re an airline pilot, you want your flights to be mundane, or uneventful, as I like to say. Airline pilots are responsible for the safety of everyone on board. Regardless of how much experience a pilot has, too many consecutive “eventful” flights or one very “eventful” flight takes its toll. So, an uneventful flight is not a bad thing, in my opinion.

As for strenuous, the job itself is not strenuous. At least it shouldn’t be. The schedule, however, can be. We post our schedules. Take a look if you’re curious. I know without having tangible experience it’s hard to truly understand what it’s like. You’ll immediately notice the inconsistencies in our schedules though. That, to me, is what makes the job harder than it needs to be. I say that while also firmly believing that I, without a doubt, made the right decision to become an airline pilot.

Yes! All of the mentors on this forum and most of the students were, are, or will be a flight instructor. Teaching opportunities are available at the airline level as well.

I encourage anyone with a curiosity for aviation to explore those curiosities. Steps on how to become an airline pilot are thoroughly spelled out in the FAQ section. Pilots come in all shapes and sizes. There is no one size fits all. There are even those that want to fly and would be great pilots, but can’t fly because of medical reasons. That’s another thing you’ll want to take care of, too, is obtaining a first class medical certificate. No sense in investing too much without knowing you’re cleared medically.

Right now you just need to focus on getting some flight experience. The medical certificate can wait until you have more confidence in knowing that there is merit to this dream of yours. If and when you do get to that point, instructions on how to get one can be found via Google and this forum.

Tory

Amanda,

Welcome to the forums. I will be honest, the job can sometimes be very tedious, there will be hours upon hours looking out over the ocean, with not a single landmark in sight. There will also be times of high activity, but there is a lot of times when it is slow and we like it that way. Excitement and airliners are two things that we try to keep apart.

The speed with which you move up in the industry is largely determined by seniority. There are opportunities for teaching.

Honestly, I am not sure that this is the job for you. It sounds like you are looking for more excitement than this job can offer. That being said though, please take a look at the “Flying the Line” section as there is a ton of information in there.

Chris